Marr Auto-Car Company

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The Marr Auto-Car Company was a short-lived automobile manufacturer from Detroit , Michigan from 1903 to 1904 .

description

The company was founded by engineer Walter Lorenzo Marr (1865–1941), who had previously worked with David Dunbar Buick on the development of his first prototype for the Buick automobile. Marr was thus also significantly involved in the novel engine concept of the first Buick with valves mounted in the cylinder head.

The principle of this forerunner of the overhead motor was also used in the first and only Marr automobile, the Marr Auto-Car . This two-seater runabout had a single-cylinder engine with a displacement of around 1700 cc, which was built into the rear behind the bench seat . According to the calculation formula at that time, it achieved around 6.5 hp. The chassis had a wheelbase of 66 inches (1676 mm). The car already had a steering wheel (many competing models relied on archaic steering using a swivel lever). This was also one of the first to be equipped with an adjustment option. At a price of USD 800, it was also very competitive.

Marr did not build the vehicles himself, but had them produced by the Fauber Manufacturing Company in Elgin. The Auto-Car got off to a good start with around 100 orders. In August 1904, however, there was a devastating fire in the factory of the supplier, with 14 new cars - most of those already manufactured - being completely destroyed.

Marr decided not to resume production and went back to Buick, where he became chief engineer in 1904 and stayed until 1918. It is undoubtedly very important to the success of the Buick.

literature

  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae (editor) and Clark, Henry Austin, jr .: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 2nd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), ISBN 0-87341-111-0 (English)
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America ; Editor SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA (2005), ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (English)
  • Madsen, Axel: The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant made General Motors , John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-4713-9523-4 (pbck) (English)
  • Sloan, Alfred P .: My Years with General Motors , 2nd edition (Sept. 1965), Verlag Moderne Industrie (German licensed edition of My Years With General Motors , Doubleday & Co., Garden City NY (USA))

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